The fruits of silly IT deparments
Just the other day I asked my dad to find some junk electronic parts for a school project (I needed various sorts of electronic boards and such), and it just so happened that my dad's IT deparment was throwing away all their non functional equipment. From that I got an old pentium 2 server (which may work) and a 15" sony vaio laptop that apparantely had a bad motherboard. I was allowed to take the laptop provided that I returned the RAM that was in it (which was good).
Alright, sure, I took the computer and the laptop with me, and it just so happens I need a laptop right now and I wished that this broken laptop wasn't. So I decided to see if I could fix it... lo and behold, I made it working in ten minutes (one of the ram slots was broken, if something was in it the machine wouldn't boot). So now I have this pretty nice 15" sony vaio pentium 3/750mhz laptop that cost nothing! (~$500 worth now). What confused me even more is why they couldn't take the RAM that was in there in the first place and required that I do it, since it only took a minute to unscrew the panel and pop the RAM out.
Hm, now if only linux and windows didn't suck so much...
So is it me or am I the only one who likes bad tech support/repair support and IT deparments?
(*flash* reminds me of the time Apple wanted me to nuke my hard drive because my cdrw was dead and covered under warranty)
Alright, sure, I took the computer and the laptop with me, and it just so happens I need a laptop right now and I wished that this broken laptop wasn't. So I decided to see if I could fix it... lo and behold, I made it working in ten minutes (one of the ram slots was broken, if something was in it the machine wouldn't boot). So now I have this pretty nice 15" sony vaio pentium 3/750mhz laptop that cost nothing! (~$500 worth now). What confused me even more is why they couldn't take the RAM that was in there in the first place and required that I do it, since it only took a minute to unscrew the panel and pop the RAM out.
Hm, now if only linux and windows didn't suck so much...
So is it me or am I the only one who likes bad tech support/repair support and IT deparments?
(*flash* reminds me of the time Apple wanted me to nuke my hard drive because my cdrw was dead and covered under warranty)
Comments
I only wish my luck was that good.
BTW IMO linux does not suck... If you know how to use it.
What was the school project that needed the parts?
Originally posted by chych
Anecdote...
Something very similar happend with me a few months ago. The lab across the hall from our lab at UCSF was relocating and decided to clean out their old stuff. As luck would have it, I found a nice old HP Laserjet 4MP destined for surplus. It works flawlessly barring a slight squeak and only had 60,000 prints on it (these things can last beyond 200,000 pages). I asked them for it, and they merrily gave me the printer.
So now I no longer use my crummy Epson 740 (furry text anyone?) except when I need color prints. $25 got me 16 MB more RAM for the printer, so it prints like a champ...a ten year old champ, but a champ none the less.
Blueflame
Other clearout swag includes a Sun Ultra 1, a 6100 (had several "not working" stickers, all inaccurate), a 9GB Ultra Wide SCSI hard disk and lots of CAT 5 cable.
reminds me of the time Apple wanted me to nuke my hard drive because my cdrw was dead and covered under warranty
Did they get you to disable extensions, rebuild your desktop and zap the PRAM first ?
Originally posted by chych
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So is it me or am I the only one who likes bad tech support/repair support and IT deparments?
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Yes it is you and you are the only one.
The IT department where I work is so bad they actually made Windows worse. Using one of their "core image" computers is much worse than using any plain old windows install.
Our place is so paranoid that when they replace kit they throw the rest out in the trash. they hire a big container and tell the caretaker dudes to literally throw the kit in so that it smashes.
No matter what it is or what it might be worth it gets trashed!